The Irish Times

How we eat is getting smarter. From processing orders to working out what our bodies don’t agree with, Irish companies are at the forefront of how technology is influencing the digital shift in food. The speed with which we get served is where the biggest shift is being felt. While fine dining is at no risk of turning into fast food, businesses such as Nory are improving efficiency behind the scenes. The Dublin-based company, which has raised $25.7 million (€23.75 million) in funding to date, has developed a platform aimed at giving greater visibility of the entire restaurant process to staff, helping them to better manage orders.

??? Inside Business podcast: Motoring journalist Neil Briscoe joins Ciarán Hancock on the line to discuss the issues affecting Tesla.

For many years Ben Breslin, founder of personal grooming products company Vico Naturals, didn’t give the aerosol deodorant he used every day a second thought. Then a friend commented that the product was “full of nasty chemicals” and this stopped him in his tracks. “I had never heard this before, so I decided to give it a Google,” he says. “I was shocked to find that there are tonnes of controversial ingredients in mainstream deodorants and antiperspirants, and that the deodorant industry has a massive impact on the environment as it generates a huge amount of plastic waste every year.”

The Government is working “flat out” to prepare for the coming economic shock of expected US tariffs targeting the pharmaceutical sector and other industries, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said

UK pension buyback questions: I’ve already got a small UK pension and have observed that, as it has risen in value over the years, it has pushed my total income (from my private pension plus my Irish state pension) into a higher tax band. The effect is I’m paying more tax, which could eventually wipe out any gains. So, is it actually worth my while to attempt to increase my UK pension by buying back years?

Ciara O'Brien: Is the tide turning on artificial intelligence ? The technology has gone from being viewed with suspicion, a potential risk to everything from job security to personal data, to a potential helping hand in the workplace that will augment human effort rather than replace it.

Amazon.ie lacks the discounted Prime offer for students nor is the family plan available. Added to this, it simply doesn’t have as big an inventory as the UK version. Users considering switching from the UK version to Amazon.ie won’t be able to transfer their wish lists.

Ciarán Murphy: A high-performing Cork hurling team is a boost to the GAA Offaly and Waterford precede Munster heavyweights in fascinating Division 1B final

Cantillon: Hybrid working appears to have endured, regardless of some high-profile employers, such as Amazon, demanding their people get back to their desks five days a week. Some 96 per cent of firms surveyed now run a model that doesn’t require staff to be in the office full time.

World of Work: Top leaders are too often removed from what is happening at different levels of the organisation. Reverse mentoring – where a junior person mentors a leader on issues of strategic and cultural relevance – is an insightful tool that can highlight skill and knowledge gaps and inequalities.